


Growing Up Together

by chocolatecastleinthesky



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: AtLA, Childhood Friends, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Linzin - Freeform, Lovers to Friends, Miscarriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-01
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-11-07 07:14:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17955998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chocolatecastleinthesky/pseuds/chocolatecastleinthesky
Summary: Lin and Tenzin were always together. Even through the roughest times of all.





	Growing Up Together

**Author's Note:**

> An old story working with one of my favorite ships, Linzin.

Toph was never babysitting for them again. "There is no way Twinkle Toes and Sugar are making me do this again." Toph spoke to herself as she wiped mashed carrots of her face for the third time this hour. Katara and Aang had taken Kya and Bumi to teach them some waterbending, leaving this one year old son with her.

Tenzin sat in his high chair, sneezing food across the room. The little airbender giggled each time he did so. Toph couldn't feel the food coming at her, since it was all wind propelled. She sighed as she stood, the baby in her stomach kicking. "Calm down in there!"

She heard laughing behind her as Sokka entered the room. "Need help?" Toph grumbled and he laughed again. "I guess Toph isn't so tough when she's dealing with an airkid, huh?" Toph shot a rock at him and he narrowly dodged it. "I'll clean up in here. You go rest."

Sokka and Suki had broken up, and so was living with Toph in her house. He helped her take care of things while she was pregnant, as well as kept her up to date on things happening in the city. She didn't like to go out pregnant because she couldn't wear her metal suit.

Sokka and Suki had a son together and he got to see his son often, because he was a waterbender and trained with Katara. However, An lived with Suki and spent most of his time with his mother on Kyoshi Island.

Toph rubbed her large stomach, knowing the baby could come any day now. She smiled as she heard Sokka mumble about never watching his nephew again, before the pangs started.

* * *

"Tenin? Tenin?" The little girl cried when she couldn't find her friend. She was almost three and wandered around the gardens of the palace, crying. The Gaang was visiting Zuko after his daughter had been born and the kids were let loose in the garden.

Lin threw herself to the ground in a tantrum, her closest friend missing. Gone. Disappeared. Poof. She pounded the ground with her fists and feet, crying loudly. With each pound a bit of earth shot upward and the little boy came running out.

"Don't cry, Lin. I was just getting you something." Tenzin held out a pretty blue flower to the little girl.

She smiled a huge, toothy smile and hugged the little bender. "Tank you, Tenin!" She ran toward the area the adults were seated. "Mommy, mommy! Look what Tenin got me!" Toph sighed, trying her best to smile.

Sokka grabbed the little girl. "What a beautiful flower, Lin. But Lin, remember that your mommy can't see with her eyes."

Lin nodded. "Okay. Sorry, mommy. Want to touch it?" She held the flower to her mother who held it in her hand.

"That's a nice flower, Lin. Tenzin is very kind to give it to you." The little girl took it and ran back to the little boy who was avoiding his brother, sister and cousin who were involved in an all-out water war.

* * *

Tenzin was riding around on his air-scooter when he was thrown backward, a rock jutting up to pop the air bubble. "Lin, that wasn't nice!" He frowned at the younger girl.

"Toughen up, Tenzin." The ten year old earthbender shot a rock at him, but he deflected it with his airbending. "Besides, it's not fair that you can float and I can't." Toph listened to the kids from the window of her house. She had been suckered into watching Tenzin for a few days during another waterbending field trip.

"You can ride one with me. How's that?" Tenzin was always a peacekeeper, much like his father. The little girl was excited about that and waited while Tenzin tried to make a larger air-scooter. She grabbed his hand and he pulled her up on it. She wrapped her arms around the eleven year old and laughed as the wind whipped her hair back and they zoomed around the yard.

"How high can this go?" Lin wasn't afraid to try anything. Tenzin moved the air-scooter up the side of the three-floor house. Before they got to the roof, however, he felt Lin's arms sliding off. "Tenzin!" Lin wasn't afraid of heights but wasn't sure she could bend the earth from mid-air, like her mom could.

As soon as her fingers parted with the fabric of his shirt, Tenzin let the air-scooter go and bent the air beneath the younger girl to slow down her drop. She landed softly and he plopped against the ground, the wind knocked out of him.

"Thank you, Tenzin." She grabbed his hand to lift him up and smiled at him. "You're really good at bending. When do you get your arrow?"

"Dad said that I should get it within the next year. Then he'll train me in the more advanced stuff. Bumi and Kya are already very advanced in their training."

"Yeah, but how cool is it that you're the only other airbender?" Lin grabbed at his arm. "C'mon, let's try that air-scooter again!"

* * *

Tenzin was nervous. It was his first date with Lin, well, real date. They'd hang out all the time but this was the first official one. They were visiting Uncle Iroh in Ba Sing Se for the summer, and Zuko had recommended the restaurant and a fountain that a girl had taken him to when he was younger.

Lin brushed her hair, leaving it down as she always did. Her mother couldn't help her with her hair and since Sokka had moved out, no one was there to tell her to pull it up or out of the way. Ty Lee had offered to take her shopping earlier in the week, so she had decided to wear one of her new outfits.

She chose a dress that was particularly comfortable, although she rarely wore dresses. It was a thin fabric to help with the summer heat. It was designed in Fire Nation style, but done the deep green Earth Kingdom colors. It had a long slit up the side to allow for free movement, which fit this sixteen year old just fine. One of her clothing requirements was the ability to earthbend in it.

As she slid it on, she loved the way it clung to her curves. She felt beautiful in it. Ty Lee had told her that she would make all the men in the city fall in love with her, and the best part was that her mother would never know. Lin smiled at the memory. She was a tomboy like her mother in many ways, but she was romantic on the inside.

She had special sole-less shoes made for her and she looked into the small mirror Tenzin had gotten her for her birthday several years ago. She was nervous for this date, although she'd never admit it. So when Tenzin knocked on the door, she smiled and ran out of the house, dragging him along, laughing with each other.

They ate noodles, laughing and talking about how exciting it was to be away from Republic City. They had all gone to the zoo the previous day and they talked about which animals they liked. After their dinner, Tenzin ordered a dessert for them to eat at the fountain.

They sat in the soft light, eating their dessert. They had grown shy together and as they ate their dessert, Lin glanced up at Tenzin. He had earned his arrows and become a very powerful airbender. He was very muscular under his yellow and brown robes, she had known this from their training sessions, because their parents had so many different abilities, they had been taught swords, fans and the fighting style of other benders.

They were walking back to the cottage she and her mother were staying in behind The Jasmine Dragon. Tenzin kissed her cheek and said goodnight, causing both of them to blush. Before he left, though, Lin grabbed his hand, turning him around and kissing him on lips. "Good night, Tenzin." She blushed and ran inside, her heart pounding.

"How was your date?" Her mother was sitting in the kitchen, snacking on some fire-flakes.

Lin blushed, grateful her mother couldn't see it. "It was really nice."

* * *

Tenzin smiled at Lin, whom he had been steadily dating for two years. Although she was eighteen, she still lived with her mom, although they both knew their parents were already planning their wedding. They had been making out in the branches of the tree behind Lin's house. "Want to stay over?" Lin's eyes shone with excitement.

She knew her mother had been a rule breaker. So why couldn't she? "Lin, your mother would know. She could sense us."

Lin laughed at him. "She could sense me. But if you used a soft air-scooter… she wouldn't have a clue! Besides, my bed is made of wood." She giggled. "I had Sokka build it for me. She wouldn't know." Tenzin smiled at the tempting thought before agreeing to her crazy plan.

* * *

Lin sat in the back row of Tenzin and Pema's wedding, the young woman already pregnant. She sighed. They had been broken up for less than a year. After their big fight, with her literally throwing him out of her house, he had gotten drunk. Pema was a beautiful woman, a few years younger than Lin. She had been in love with Tenzin for years.

Pema had worked at a flower shop in the marketplace and Tenzin frequently stopped there when he was working on decorating the island his father had given him or if he wanted to get her something special. When he had gotten drunk, and she was flirting with him, they had ended up together. Tenzin went on a few dates with her, and they were a very placid couple. Once they found out she was pregnant, though, Tenzin asked her to marry him, trying to do the responsible thing.

Lin waited until the ceremony was over. She decided to train, unable to stand the festivities. Toph sensed her daughter leaving, but did nothing to stop her. She knew what it was like to have a broken heart. Lin's father had left her after she had gotten pregnant, despite her being in love with him.

Lin took out her frustration on the dummies in the training facility specifically built for the metalbending police force her mother had started. Lin had learned metalbending in her teenage years, and joined the force when she was nineteen. Her mother was almost fifty and Lin knew that soon she would be the head of the force, because she was the best metalbender of the group.

* * *

When Pema lost the baby, the couple was devastated. Pema stayed with her family for a few months and Tenzin retreated back to the home of his youth. He had been in the South Pole for only a few weeks when Lin arrived.

She saw Tenzin leaving when she entered the village and quickly changed directions, grumbling about the snow on the way. She hated visiting the poles, because she could barely feel under the layers of snow. She saw him feeding the penguins that they had sledded on years ago in their youth.

He saw her heading his way and she ran to him, throwing her arms around him. She had rarely seen Tenzin cry, although from his siblings he was the sensitive one. She just held him as he cried. "I'm so sorry, Lin. I messed everything up."

Lin shook her head. "Tenzin, you did what was right. I shouldn't have gotten as upset as I did. It was stupid. I shouldn't have been upset with you." She looked at him. "I know this is hard on you. You lost someone you loved deeply, that you would've given up your life for. But now, you're going to need to be strong. Because as deep as your bond was with your child, Pema's was stronger. And she needs you."

Lin pulled him to his feet. "So toughen up, soldier. Go to Pema. Hold things together. Then move on. We're too old to run home to our parents when the going gets tough." Tenzin smiled at her no-nonsense attitude, which she had inherited from her mother and used whenever he acted "like a baby pig-dog, whining like that!"

* * *

Lin worked with Tenzin now and again, but when Korra came to the city, she found herself around him more and more often. When the Equalists started to make problems and he asked her to help care for his family, there was no way to say no. But when Pema dropped Meelo into her arms with a look that said "hands off", she started to wonder why she agreed.

Tenzin had left and she took care of the strange child. However, it had been barely half an hour when the Equalists attacked the island. She told them to stay calm, and when Pema shouted out, she instinctively told her to shape up.

"The baby's coming!" Pema gasped and Lin looked into the sky, asking the spirits why.

She heralded everyone inside and stood to fight. She was good, but there were too many and as she fell, staring into the eyes of the Equalist, she heard the children. They fought as a group and she wanted to kiss Meelo for his rather disgusting form of airbending (because as similar as she was to her mother, bodily functions grossed her out).

Tenzin was furious with her and his even temper flared as she tried to explain how wonderful they had been. She could hear the wistfulness in her voice as she spoke of his children and how proud he should be. Then when he went to see his new baby, her heart broke yet again. But she saw how happy he was, how much he cared for them, and felt guilty for wishing it to be any other way.

As they left together, and the airships followed them, Lin looked at the man she had spent her life in love with and knew she'd do whatever it'd take to keep him and his family safe, even if he only knew it as being for their bending abilities. "Whatever happens to me, don't turn back." Lin jumped towards the airship.

"Lin!" Tenzin reached out to stop her but it was too late.

"That lady is my hero." Meelo looked at her disappearing form proudly. Tenzin didn't say it, but she was his, too.


End file.
